Trump Can’t Follow Through on His Promises—And Will Need A Scapegoat

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Trump will try to use the rabid along with the marginalized as storm troopers in a war against those he will scapegoat for denying or thwarting his success and snatching away his promised Great America.

What happens when Trump will not, cannot, deliver on his core promises? And it is only a matter of time.

One scenario is that his supporters will wake up and realize that they have been screwed again—not just by the usual system the rich and powerful have rigged against them, but also by a greedy con man who played and betrayed them. And they will turn on him.

Sadly, a more likely scenario is that Trump will follow his established pattern: bedazzling supporters with a platter of razzmatazz and a side of scapegoat. Whenever he abandons or eviscerates a promised program or policy, whenever news is bad, Trump will be Trump. He will outright lie (“I never promised that,” “I did deliver,” or “It was just campaign room talk”) and at the same time (logic was never his strong suit), he will blame any failure on the usual enemies—the media, Democrats, Muslims, minorities, “professional protesters,” immigrants, nasty women, Mexican rapists, rude Broadway performers, etc.

When he wants a switch up from domestic fall guys, he can grab the time-tested path of ginning up a war, or scaring the bejesus out of the populace by hyping the imminent threat of freedom-hating terrorists lurking under America’s bed.

That most of Trump’s platform is built of smoke, mirrors, and bullshit will become increasingly apparent as it smacks up against hard reality. Some of his promises are simply impossible to realize: He cannot bring back coal mining or create millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs that provide under-skilled workers with a ticket into the middle class. He cannot restore the god-given entitlement and privileges white men still hold as their due. He cannot create affordable health care within a market system or build a 2,000 mile long wall on Mexico's dime. Even aided by resurrected policy zombies like Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani, he cannot turn back the clock to the 1950s. Nor can he erase the fact that the halcyon past for which he pines rested on the exclusion and subjugation of non-whites and women. Words and wishing will not make America white again.

And then there is the heaping portion of Trump’s fantastical promises that fundamentally conflict with his interests and those of his natural allies: the moneyed class which quickly figured out that it has a friend, albeit an uncouth one, in Trump. The export of factories and jobs from low-wage countries the candidate so deplored is essential to the corporate bottom line, as is the import of cheap foreign goods, such as the low-cost Chinese steel Trump famously used. The mass expulsion of 11 million undocumented workers is not only logistically and financially precluded by reality, but it would throw into chaos such industries as farming, construction, leisure, service, and low-skilled health care. As for draining the Washington swamp of corporate lobbyists, one of the nascent Trump administration’s first moves is anointing a phthisic coterie of corporate shills and whores.

Sure, there will be some high-profile reform bones thrown to the hungry-for-change masses, but these will never fill the chasm of income inequality or reknit the safety net that was already too shredded to support the poor, the elderly and the working class. And sure, it will take time before his supporters feel the effects of trickle down taxation and the evisceration of regulations that protect our environment, food safety, health standards, and rights.

But eventually, the stink of failed promises will add to the miasma of fraud and deception and that surround Trump. And therein lies the danger: At the first sign that his base is growing restless and disillusioned, that they start understanding that they were used and betrayed, Trump will need to seduce them further down the rabbit hole of his delusions—chief among them that he gives a rat’s ass for the people he claims to champion.

He will distract with red meat—most often sliced from the bodies of his designated enemies. The more Trump fails to deliver, the more he will need to rouse and rally his supporters. They include useful racist minions and sexist bullies, but also America's prisoners of low incomes and status and the millions clinging desperately to hope of living, or seeing their children live, the American dream. Trump will try to use the rabid along with the marginalized as storm troopers in a war against those he will scapegoat for denying or thwarting his success and snatching away his promised Great America.

What’s to be done? Well, signing petitions from the comfort of a couch is always an option. Then again, some people prefer the only thing that has ever worked: organize, educate, take off the gloves and fight like hell back.

See why we’re re-inventing the In These Times magazine, and how you can be part of it.

Trump's continuing campaigning for re-election may end up violating election laws and misuse of government funds for political campaigning.

Posted by Dan Slaby on 2017-06-28 11:40:03

Hi,

White guy here. I find the following to be racist and sexist: "the god-given entitlement and privileges white men still hold as their due." Please, please stop the white guy bashing. A lot of us are very nice folks.

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Posted by Rene M. Cooney on 2017-03-01 00:06:13

Why deride signing petitions? Not all of us have access to your platform. Are you out there organising or do you refer to hurl big words at the citizenry from the comfort of your office? Do you have any pointers on fighting like hell? Do you offer any information to those wishing to organise? Rhetorical bluster is very cute but please let's commit some real journalism.

Can we add "pissed off old white guys that think he is full of shit" to that list, please? SOME of us can see through him.

Posted by davej1s on 2016-12-15 12:53:21

Don't tease!

Posted by Ormond Otvos on 2016-12-10 23:57:18

Decaying, like tuberculosis...

Posted by Ormond Otvos on 2016-12-10 23:56:37

What's phthisic?

Posted by hanzimano on 2016-12-10 20:31:49

Ummmm....do you think Trump's assiduous courting of the military suggests he already has a plan for dealing down the road with the disaffected?

Posted by woofer on 2016-12-10 14:48:56

This is an important article that should be required reading, though I think that it is already happening. Every time anyone says anything less than complimentary about Trump, he tweets, and his storm trumpers harass and threaten whoever dares to exercise their free speech. Witness the labor union leader in Indiana or the girl who asked questions about his stance on women during the primaries in NH. Immediately, unions became the problem and she became a "plant" from a rival campaign.

Posted by Andrew Christiansen on 2016-12-10 13:27:56

No smoke, no mirrors, no bullshit here. Appropriately grim. Trump's sleight-of-hand (slight-of-mouth?) is the worst kind of genius. I know many middle-class people with functioning brains who cannot, will not see what Trump has done. Will they ever? Enough to turn on him? Sadly, I don't think so. Trump is a chaos-maker by nature and profession. I worry that the blinding clouds of shit that he spins will swirl even faster. Maybe the people with shit-sealed eyelids will start to be able to see what has happened to them -- and us -- after he dies.

Posted by Rachael_Aumont on 2016-12-10 12:01:39

Edward DayAs one who grew up in the 1930s, in a family that paid close attention to the daily news, and what was happening in Germany in particular, the rise of Trump and company and their potential is a most serious and dangerous reality. There are very scary similarities. Except, perhaps, the Trump may not be as bright as the former corporal.

Posted by Edward Day on 2016-12-10 10:09:49

Yes, smoke, mirrors, and bullshit--the tried & true recipe of many a politician. That it was enough to sustain a con man so blatantly phony as Trump makes me despair that his followers will ever attain disillusionment. They'll cling loyally to the fantasy of "making America great again" while the EPA is gutted and the country's infrastructure crumbles around us.

Posted by Sarah Albert on 2016-12-09 21:27:55

Terry Allen's clear eyed vision sees the future of disillusionment that awaits those who voted for Trump believing he will work for them. It is always good to read her. My fear is summed up by John F. Kennedy who said: when you make peaceful change impossible, you make violent change inevitable. In a nation like ours which is armed to the teeth and violence is accepted as a way to "solve" problems, this makes me shudder for this country.

Posted by Joseph Gainza on 2016-12-09 20:50:28

"Even aided by resurrected policy zombies like Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani, he cannot turn back the clock to the 1950s. Nor can he erase the fact that the halcyon past for which he pines rested on the exclusion and subjugation of non-whites and women."

Additional fact: those halcyon days were the result of a long economic boom whose conditions have long since collapsed. Moreover, they were accompanied by the highest rate of unionization for working people in U.S. history as well as as a top marginal tax rate of 90%.

Posted by oh vienna on 2016-12-09 15:59:45

Terry, that is a *great* question to which you give some really terrifying possible answers. (Thanks a lot! I really needed the pick-me-up!) Scary that it may be, I hope lots of folks read and share your very smart analysis -- and the super-enjoyable writing, too: ". . . a phthisic coterie of corporate shills and whores." Wow.

Posted by Jay Harris on 2016-12-09 15:59:37

Aside from the fact that I don't believe, based on the cabinet nominees, that there will be any "high profile reform bones"––see Paul Ryan––I agree with your conclusion. We're in for a very rough ride.

Posted by Altoon Sultan on 2016-12-09 15:56:51

Wait! I can see it now. We are all playing dodge ball. Who is he going to aim at? Democrats? Nasty women? Immigrants? Actors? No wonder the opposition looks a bit unorganized now, dodging and weaving. He is an embarrassment, but now, worse than that, he is dangerous. Thanks for this op-ed.

Posted by Linda Gray on 2016-12-09 14:31:59

Very very hard hitting and weighed out rationally with logic. Great article.